M13 Virus Triboelectricity and Energy Harvesting.

Triboelectrification is a phenomenon that generates electric potential upon contact. Here, we report a viral particle capable of generating triboelectric potential. M13 bacteriophage is exploited to fabricate precisely defined chemical and physical structures. By genetically engineering the charged structures, we observe that more negatively charged phages can generate higher triboelectric potentials and can diffuse the electric charges faster than less negatively charged phages can. The computational results show that the glutamate-engineered phages lower the LUMO energy level so that they can easily accept electrons from other materials upon contact. A phage-based triboelectric nanogenerator is fabricated and it could produce ∼76 V and ∼5.1 µA, enough to power 30 light-emitting diodes upon a mechanical force application. Our biotechnological approach will be useful to understand the electrical behavior of biomaterials, harvest mechanical energy, and provide a novel modality to detect desired viruses in the future.

Electroluminescent soft elastomer actuators with adjustable luminance and strain.

We demonstrate a multifunctional soft actuator that exhibits both electroluminescence (EL) and soft actuation with a strain of 85% and a maximum luminance of 300 cd m-2, superior to previous devices with individual functions. This was possible by combining several strategies such as the development of highly conductive, transparent, and stretchable electrodes, incorporation of high-k nanoparticles to increase the electric field applied to the EL particles, and application of AC + DC composite signals to simplify the device structure. We expect this research to contribute to the development of new soft devices that can further enhance human-machine interactions in color displaying actuator applications.

Highly flexible and transparent dielectric elastomer actuators using silver nanowire and carbon nanotube hybrid electrodes.

We demonstrate a dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) with a high areal strain value of 146% using hybrid electrodes of silver nanowires (AgNWs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The addition of a very small amount of SWCNTs (∼35 ng mm-2) to a highly resistive AgNW network resulted in a remarkable reduction of the electrode sheet resistance by three orders, increasing the breakdown field by 183% and maximum strain, while maintaining the reduction of optical transmittance within 11%. The DEA based on our transparent and stretchable hybrid electrodes can be easily fabricated by a simple vacuum filtration and transfer process of the electrode film on a pre-strained dielectric elastomer membrane. We expect that our approach will be useful in the future for fabricating stretchable and transparent electrodes in various soft electronic devices.

Highly sensitive and flexible strain sensors based on patterned ITO nanoparticle channels.

We demonstrate a highly sensitive and flexible bending strain sensor using tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanoparticles (NPs) assembled in line patterns on flexible substrates. By utilizing transparent ITO NPs without any surface modifications, we could produce strain sensors with adjustable gauge factors and optical transparency. We were able to control the dimensional and electrical properties of the sensors, such as channel height and resistance, by controlling the NP assembly speed. Furthermore, we were able to generate controlled gauge factor with values ranging from 18 to 157, which are higher than previous cases using metallic Cr NPs and Au NPs. The alignment of the ITO NPs in parallel lines resulted in low crosstalk between the transverse and longitudinal bending directions. Finally, our sensor showed high optical transmittance, up to ∼93% at 500 nm wavelength, which is desirable for flexible electronic applications.

Biomimetic self-templating supramolecular structures.

In nature, helical macromolecules such as collagen, chitin and cellulose are critical to the morphogenesis and functionality of various hierarchically structured materials. During tissue formation, these chiral macromolecules are secreted and undergo self-templating assembly, a process whereby multiple kinetic factors influence the assembly of the incoming building blocks to produce non-equilibrium structures. A single macromolecule can form diverse functional structures when self-templated under different conditions. Collagen type I, for instance, forms transparent corneal tissues from orthogonally aligned nematic fibres, distinctively coloured skin tissues from cholesteric phase fibre bundles, and mineralized tissues from hierarchically organized fibres. Nature's self-templated materials surpass the functional and structural complexity achievable by current top-down and bottom-up fabrication methods. However, self-templating has not been thoroughly explored for engineering synthetic materials. Here we demonstrate the biomimetic, self-templating assembly of chiral colloidal particles (M13 phage) into functional materials. A single-step process produces long-range-ordered, supramolecular films showing multiple levels of hierarchical organization and helical twist. Three distinct supramolecular structures are created by this approach: nematic orthogonal twists, cholesteric helical ribbons and smectic helicolidal nanofilaments. Both chiral liquid crystalline phase transitions and competing interfacial forces at the interface are found to be critical factors in determining the morphology of the templated structures during assembly. The resulting materials show distinctive optical and photonic properties, functioning as chiral reflector/filters and structural colour matrices. In addition, M13 phages with genetically incorporated bioactive peptide ligands direct both soft and hard tissue growth in a hierarchically organized manner. Our assembly approach provides insight into the complexities of hierarchical assembly in nature and could be expanded to other chiral molecules to engineer sophisticated functional helical-twisted structures.

Efficiency enhancement in a backside illuminated 1.12 µm pixel CMOS image sensor via parabolic color filters.

The shrinkage of pixel size down to sub-2 µm in high-resolution CMOS image sensors (CISs) results in degraded efficiency and increased crosstalk. The backside illumination technology can increase the efficiency, but the crosstalk still remains an critical issue to improve the image quality of the CIS devices. In this paper, by adopting a parabolic color filter (P-CF), we demonstrate efficiency enhancement without any noticeable change in optical crosstalk of a backside illuminated 1.12 µm pixel CIS with deep-trench-isolation structure. To identify the observed results, we have investigated the effect of radius of curvature (r) of the P-CF on the efficiency and optical crosstalk of the CIS by performing an electromagnetic analysis. As the r of P-CF becomes equal to (or half) that of the microlens, the efficiencies of the B-, G-, and R-pixels increase by a factor of 14.1% (20.3%), 9.8% (15.3%), and 15.0% (15.7%) with respect to the flat CF cases without any noticeable crosstalk change. Also, as the incident angle increases up to 30°, the angular dependence of the efficiency and crosstalk significantly decreases by utilizing the P-CF in the CIS. Meanwhile, further reduction of r severely increases the optical crosstalk due to the increased diffraction effect, which has been confirmed with the simulated electric-field intensity distribution inside the devices.

Carbon and metal nanotube hybrid structures on graphene as efficient electron field emitters.

We report a facile and efficient method for the fabrication of highly-flexible field emission devices by forming tubular hybrid structures based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nickel nanotubes (Ni NTs) on graphene-based flexible substrates. By employing an infiltration process in anodic alumina oxide (AAO) templates followed by Ni electrodeposition, we could fabricate CNT-wrapped Ni NT/graphene hybrid structures. During the electrodeposition process, the CNTs served as Ni nucleation sites, resulting in a large-area array of high aspect-ratio field emitters composed of CNT-wrapped Ni NT hybrid structures. As a proof of concepts, we demonstrate that high-quality flexible field emission devices can be simply fabricated using our method. Remarkably, our proto-type field emission devices exhibited a current density higher by two orders of magnitude compared to other devices fabricated by previous methods, while maintaining its structural integrity in various bending deformations. This novel fabrication strategy can be utilized in various applications such as optoelectronic devices, sensors and energy storage devices.

Fully Automated Field-Deployable Bioaerosol Monitoring System Using Carbon Nanotube-Based Biosensors.

Much progress has been made in the field of automated monitoring systems of airborne pathogens. However, they still lack the robustness and stability necessary for field deployment. Here, we demonstrate a bioaerosol automonitoring instrument (BAMI) specifically designed for the in situ capturing and continuous monitoring of airborne fungal particles. This was possible by developing highly sensitive and selective fungi sensors based on two-channel carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNT-FETs), followed by integration with a bioaerosol sampler, a Peltier cooler for receptor lifetime enhancement, and a pumping assembly for fluidic control. These four main components collectively cooperated with each other to enable the real-time monitoring of fungi. The two-channel CNT-FETs can detect two different fungal species simultaneously. The Peltier cooler effectively lowers the working temperature of the sensor device, resulting in extended sensor lifetime and receptor stability. The system performance was verified in both laboratory conditions and real residential areas. The system response was in accordance with reported fungal species distribution in the environment. Our system is versatile enough that it can be easily modified for the monitoring of other airborne pathogens. We expect that our system will expedite the development of hand-held and portable systems for airborne bioaerosol monitoring.

Selective and Sensitive Sensing of Flame Retardant Chemicals Through Phage Display Discovered Recognition Peptide.

We report a highly selective and sensitive biosensor for the detection of an environmentally toxic molecule, decabrominated diphenyl ether (DBDE), one of the most common congeners of the polybrominated frame retardants (polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)), using newly discovered DBDE peptide receptors integrated with carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNT-FET). The specific DBDE peptide receptor was identified using a high-throughput screening process of phage library display. The resulting binding peptide carries an interesting consensus binding pocket with two Trp-His/Asn-Trp repeats, which binds to the DBDE in a multivalent manner. We integrated the novel DBDE binding peptide onto the CNT-FET using polydiacetylene coating materials linked through cysteine-maleimide click chemistry. The resulting biosensor could detect the desired DBDE selectively with a 1 fM detection limit. Our combined approaches of selective receptor discovery, material nanocoating through click chemistry, and integration onto a sensitive CNT-FET electronic sensor for desired target chemicals will pave the way toward the rapid development of portable and easy-to-use biosensors for desired chemicals to protect our health and environment.

Enhancement of the Electroluminescence and Strain Properties of Dielectric Elastomeric Actuators Using Liquid Metal Reflectors.

We report on the enhancement of the light-emitting and mechanical performance of multifunctional dielectric elastomeric actuators by combining liquid eutectic gallium indium metal with a stretchable and transparent hybrid electrode composed of silver nanowires (AgNWs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The device shows improved optical properties, electrical conductivity, and stability for electroluminescent dielectric elastomer actuators compared with previous works. Combining single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) with AgNWs impeded the chemical reaction between the liquid metal and AgNWs, resulting in a more stable operation of the device. The maximum luminance and maximum strain of the electroluminescent dielectric elastomer actuator increased by 50% (from 300 to 450 cd m-2) and 44% (from 85 to 122%), respectively.

Highly selective and sensitive detection of neurotransmitters using receptor-modified single-walled carbon nanotube sensors.

We present receptor-modified carbon nanotube sensors for the highly selective and sensitive detection of acetylcholine (ACh), one kind of neurotransmitter. Here, we successfully expressed the M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (M1 mAChR), a family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), in E. coli and coated single-walled carbon nanotube (swCNT)-field effect transistors (FETs) with lipid membrane including the receptor, enabling highly selective and sensitive ACh detection. Using this sensor, we could detect ACh at 100 pM concentration. Moreover, we showed that this sensor could selectively detect ACh among other neurotransmitters. This is the first demonstration of the real-time detection of ACh using specific binding between ACh and M1 mAChR, and it may lead to breakthroughs for various applications such as disease diagnosis and drug screening.

Electrical control of kinesin-microtubule motility using a transparent functionalized-graphene substrate.

We report a new strategy to selectively localize and control microtubule translocation via electrical control of microtubules using a microfabricated channel on a functionalized-graphene electrode with high transparency and conductivity. A patterned SU-8 film acts as an insulation layer which shields the electrical field generated by the graphene underneath while the localized electric field on the exposed graphene surface guides the negatively charged microtubules. This is the first report showing that functionalized graphene can support and control microtubule motility.

Nanotube-bridged wires with sub-10 nm gaps.

We report a simple but efficient method to synthesize carbon nanotube-bridged wires (NBWs) with gaps as small as 5 nm. In this method, we have combined a strategy for assembling carbon nanotubes (CNTs) inside anodized aluminum oxide pores and the on-wire lithography technique to fabricate CNT-bridged wires with gap sizes deliberately tailored over the 5-600 nm range. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of the utility of this architecture, we have prepared NBW-based chemical and biosensors which exhibit higher analyte sensitivity (lower limits of detection) than those based on planar CNT networks. This observation is attributed to a greater surface-to-volume ratio of CNTs in the NBWs than those in the planar CNT devices. Because of the ease of synthesis and high yield of NBWs, this technique may enable the further incorporation of CNT-based architectures into various nanoelectronic and sensor platforms.

Reply to comment on 'Metallic nanowire-graphene hybrid nanostructures for highly flexible field emission devices'.

In our previous paper (Arif et al 2011 Nanotechnology 22 355709), we developed a method to prepare metallic nanowire-graphene hybrid nanostructures and applied it to the fabrication of flexible field emission devices. For the quantitative analysis of the devices, the basic Fowler-Nordheim model was used. However, as pointed out by Forbes (2012 Nanotechnology 23 288001) the basic Fowler-Nordheim model should be corrected when the quantum confinement effect and the screening effect are considered. Forbes also developed a method that checks quantitatively the consistency between the experimental data and the theoretical assumptions. These discussions should provide an important theoretical framework in the quantitative analysis of our devices as well as large area field emitters in general.

Biomimetic virus-based soft niche for ischemic diseases.

The essential therapeutic cues provided by a nanofibrous arginine-glycine-aspartic acid-engineered M13 phage were exploited as extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimicking niches, contributing to de novo soft tissue niche engineering. The interplay of biomimetic phage cues with surrounding organ tissues was identified, and cells were implanted between tissues to achieve an appropriate soft tissue niche that enables the proper functioning of the implanted stem cells at the injured site. With the polyacrylamide (PA) hydrogel mimicking the soft tissue organ stiffness ranges, it was found that biochemical and topological cues in conjunction with the ∼1-2 kPa elastic and mechanical cues of engineered phage nanofibers in soft tissues efficiently enhance the desired response of implanted stem cells. This phage cue with angiogenic and antioxidant functions overcomes the pathological environment to support implanted cells and surrounding soft tissues at the ischemic site, thereby successfully decreasing myogenic degeneration, minimizing fibrosis, and enhancing blood vessel regeneration with M2 macrophage polarization by improving the survival of the implanted endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) in an ischemic mouse model. These biomimetic phage nanofiber cues are considerably supportive of cell therapy, as they establish promising therapeutic extracellular de novo soft tissue niches for curing ischemic diseases.

Metallic nanowire-graphene hybrid nanostructures for highly flexible field emission devices.

We report a simple but efficient method to prepare metallic nanowire-graphene (MN-G) hybrid nanostructures at a low temperature and show its application to the fabrication of flexible field emission devices. In this method, a graphene layer was transferred onto an anodic alumina oxide template, and vertically aligned Au nanowires were grown on the graphene surface via electrodeposition method. As a proof of concept, we demonstrated the fabrication of flexible field emission devices, where the MN-G hybrid nanostructures and another graphene layer on PDMS substrates were utilized as a cathode and an anode for highly flexible devices, respectively. Our field emission device exhibited stable and high field emission currents even when bent down to the radius of curvature of 25 mm. This MN-G hybrid nanostructure should prove tremendous flexibility for various applications such as bio-chemical sensors, field emission devices, pressure sensors and battery electrodes.

Biosensor system-on-a-chip including CMOS-based signal processing circuits and 64 carbon nanotube-based sensors for the detection of a neurotransmitter.

We developed a carbon nanotube (CNT)-based biosensor system-on-a-chip (SoC) for the detection of a neurotransmitter. Here, 64 CNT-based sensors were integrated with silicon-based signal processing circuits in a single chip, which was made possible by combining several technological breakthroughs such as efficient signal processing, uniform CNT networks, and biocompatible functionalization of CNT-based sensors. The chip was utilized to detect glutamate, a neurotransmitter, where ammonia, a byproduct of the enzymatic reaction of glutamate and glutamate oxidase on CNT-based sensors, modulated the conductance signals to the CNT-based sensors. This is a major technological advancement in the integration of CNT-based sensors with microelectronics, and this chip can be readily integrated with larger scale lab-on-a-chip (LoC) systems for various applications such as LoC systems for neural networks.

H(2) sensing characteristics of SnO(2) coated single wall carbon nanotube network sensors.

SnO(2) nanoparticle coated single wall nanotube (SWNT) network sensors were fabricated by forming a SWNT network on the Pt patterned SiO(2)/Si substrate using a dip coating method and subsequently depositing SnO(2) nanoparticles on the SWNT network by rf magnetron sputtering. Their H(2) gas sensing properties were investigated. The SnO(2)-SWNT network sensors stably and reversibly responded to H(2) gas even at room temperature and could detect H(2) gas down to 100 ppm. In addition to the low temperature detection, a remarkable finding was that the gas sensing behavior of SnO(2)-SWNT network sensors was changed from p-type to n-type with increasing SnO(2) deposition time (i.e. surface coverage of SnO(2) on SWNT). A schematic model was proposed to explain the switching of sensing behavior depending on the surface coverage of SnO(2) nanoparticles on the SWNTs.

100 nm scale low-noise sensors based on aligned carbon nanotube networks: overcoming the fundamental limitation of network-based sensors.

Nanoscale sensors based on single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) networks have been considered impractical due to several fundamental limitations such as a poor sensitivity and small signal-to-noise ratio. Herein, we present a strategy to overcome these fundamental problems and build highly-sensitive low-noise nanoscale sensors simply by controlling the structure of the SWNT networks. In this strategy, we prepared nanoscale width channels based on aligned SWNT networks using a directed assembly strategy. Significantly, the aligned network-based sensors with narrower channels exhibited even better signal-to-noise ratio than those with wider channels, which is opposite to conventional random network-based sensors. As a proof of concept, we demonstrated 100 nm scale low-noise sensors to detect mercury ions with the detection limit of approximately 1 pM, which is superior to any state-of-the-art portable detection system and is below the allowable limit of mercury ions in drinking water set by most government environmental protection agencies. This is the first demonstration of 100 nm scale low-noise sensors based on SWNT networks. Considering the increased interests in high-density sensor arrays for healthcare and environmental protection, our strategy should have a significant impact on various industrial applications.

All-solid-state flexible supercapacitor based on nanotube-reinforced polypyrrole hollowed structures.

Supercapacitors are strong future candidates for energy storage devices owing to their high power density, fast charge-discharge rate, and long cycle stability. Here, a flexible supercapacitor with a large specific capacitance of 443 F g-1 at a scan rate of 2 mV s-1 is demonstrated using nanotube-reinforced polypyrrole nanowires with hollowed cavities grown vertically on a nanotube/graphene based film. Using these electrodes, we obtain improved capacitance, rate capability, and cycle stability for over 3000 cycles. The assembled all-solid-state supercapacitor exhibits excellent mechanical flexibility, with the capacity to endure a 180° bending angle along with a maximum specific and volumetric energy density of 7 W h kg-1 (8.2 mW h cm-3) at a power density of 75 W kg-1 (0.087 W cm-3), and it showed an energy density of 4.13 W h kg-1 (4.82 mW h cm-3) even at a high power density of 3.8 kW kg-1 (4.4 W cm-3). Also, it demonstrates a high cycling stability of 94.3% after 10 000 charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 10 A g-1. Finally, a foldable all-solid-state supercapacitor is demonstrated, which confirms the applicability of the reported supercapacitor for use in energy storage devices for future portable, foldable, or wearable electronics.